In 1980 the combination of Cornish opposition to a proposed Nuclear Power Staion and a windswept farm, prompted the Edwards family to take a positive view and look into the potential of harnessing the wind to produce power.
The windfarm is sited 1.6 km (1 mile) from the village of Delabole. 4 km ( 2.5 miles) from the sea, at an altitude of 240m (800 ft ).

The windfarm first became operational in mid December 1991. Construction took just 3months total, but erection and commissioning of the turbines took only 15 days!
The turbines are carefully positioned in existing hedgelines about 270 m apart. There are no access roads and all cables are underground so that normal agricultural use is undisturbed.

The 10 turbines have an annual output of about 12 million Kw hours, which equals 1 years consumption by 2700 average homes (a small town).
To produce the same amount of electricity by convential means, about 2000 tonnes of oil or 5000 tonnes of coal would have to be burnt each year, producing 12000 tonnes of carbon dioxide and 120 tonnes of sulpher and nitrous oxides.

Last summer we held the first phase of our public consultation on the re-powering of Delabole Wind Farm. Here we shared our plans to take down the existing wind turbines at Delabole and install a reduced number of larger, more powerful turbines. We asked people who attended the consultation to give us their views of the re-powering project. We achieved this by displaying an opinions board which gave people the opportunity to state how they would like Delabole Wind Farm to look in the future.

We have taken these views onboard and with the technical research and the environmental impact assessment that has been carried out, we have now finalised the material that will be included in our planning application. We will present this application to the North Cornwall District Council planning department.

Delabole Windfarm th Next Generation
progress report

Over half of the old turbines have now come down and are waiting to go to their new home. Jessica and John from our Generation Team were on site for the first two weeks of August to oversee the beginning stages of the decommissioning of the ten veteran turbines. The blustery Cornish weather has caused a few minor delays, with strong

28th August 2010 The last of the original Wind Turbines gets removed
photo by Chris Hore

winds meaning it has been too dangerous to bring some of the turbines down. However, the Cornish wind is the reason we

picked Delabole for a wind farm, and the teams on site are working hard to get the remainder down - in a couple of weeks the site will be ready to welcome the new turbines.

The project has attracted a lot of interest and there has been a steady stream of press, locals and tourists coming to have a look around the site. The new turbines are on target to start going up in mid-September, and the team will be back then to welcome visitors and answer their questions.

Building the new Wind Turbines

The UK’s first commercial wind farm has been redeveloped, replacing the 10 old
turbines with four new, more powerful ones.

The Second Generation Windturbines from Delabole

Chris Hune MP answers Questions
Peter Edwards looks on

Childrens Presentations

The Delabole Wind Farm: The Next Generation was opened on 22nd February 2011 by the Energy and Climate Change Secretary Liberal Chris Hune MP, he said "Delabole was the first commercial wind farm in the UK and, in its new form, it remains at the forefront of best practice," "Wind is an abundant, clean, home-grown alternative to fossil fuels. It can’t be blown off course by instability abroad, and so it’s vital that we use it for our low carbon, energy security." Secretary Hune also presented prizes to 4 children from Delabole School. During the evening the turbines were lit up.

Community Fund

Good Energy is Ensuring that those living close to their renewable projects benefit from them and feel connected to them is central to our development approach. One way we've done this at our wind farm in Delabole is to set up a Community Fund and we’re really excited to reveal the first round of projects to receive support. Chosen by a panel of local residents, the successful schemes were the ones they felt would benefit the community most.

First up, the funds will be put towards upgrading the Delabole village Christmas lights. They will be fitted with low energy bulbs to reduce their environmental impact.

The Community Fund will also contribute to the village celebrations for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee; a great opportunity for residents to get together, helping strengthen the community.

Finally, funding will go towards Dyson Airblade hand dryers in Delabole Community Primary School. There are currently 120 pupils and 21 members of staff who will benefit from the hand-dryers, which are more energy efficient, environmentally friendly and hygienic than other options. This will help Delabole primary school reduce its carbon footprint, as well as save several hundred pounds per year.

“It will be great to see the positive impact of our Community Fund on the local area” said Jessica Knowles at Good Energy. “We’re really looking forward to seeing how the projects progress and hope this scheme continues to encourage other developers to work more closely with local communities.”

The first of its kind in the country, our new Delabole local tariff will reward households close to our wind farm with lower bills. It’s our blueprint for putting communities at the heart of renewable energy generation and will be replicated across Britain as we develop more renewable capacity. People living within two kilometres of our flagship 9.2.MW wind farm in Delabole will be eligible for the local tariff.

With a 20% discount on our standard electricity prices it will save the area’s average customer around £100 a year on their electricity bills. The tariff will also pay a ‘windfall’ bonus of up to £50 per household every year the turbines exceed their expected performance.